[citation][nom]rickpatbrown[/nom]You must be an absolute fool to think that pirating, aka stealing, doesn't affect the quality and quantity of the product. It is so basic, I feel dumb explaining it. If you take a product without paying for it, what insentive does someone have to produce it.[/citation]
They've already produced it. It's not like shoplifting, where a factory has paid money to press a disc, then paid money to manufacture a case, and paid money to print paper booklets on glossy paper, then paid money to wrap it in cellophane. Then a stores pays for the product.
Pirates do hurt the industry, but in a much less severe way than the industry makes it out to be.